Leo's Fall & Rise
by Skye Phoenix Dove
Summary: Leo has been blamed for Percy falling into Tartarus. Annabeth, Frank, Hazel and Piper all hate him. What does he do? Run away of course. So how did two mortals end up running around the world with him? Rated T because I'm paranoid. (Nico and Jason don't hate him because I like them)
1. A Different Person

**Okay! This is one of those 'Betrayed then becomes a hero' stories, this time starring Leo. I like Jason and Nico so they are going to be the people that are nice to him. Two of the main characters are mortal and my OCs.**

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**Disclaimer**

**Skye: Chloe, do the disclaimer.**

**Chloe: Isabelle, do the disclaimer.**

**Isabelle: Leo, do the disclaimer.**

**Leo: Why me?**

**Chloe: *kisses Leo***

**Leo: Skye Phoenix Dove does not own Percy Jackson.**

**Skye: Sadly.**

**Isabelle: Enjoy!**

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—Chapter 1: A Different Person—

Anyone who saw the boy walking through the woods would have had the sense to stay away, not that he would have noticed them.

_H-he fell. We tried to save them b-but—_

Anyone who saw the boy walking through the woods _should_ have had the sense to stay away. Of course, he wouldn't have noticed them.

_You actually opened the fortune cookie? Don't you remember what Nemesis said about the horrible price?_

Even if anyone who saw the boy walking through the woods had the sense to stay away, the boy was in his lost in his own world.

_A concussion this deep?_

It's been four days!

He might not wake up.

THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

But that certain someone was not exactly the kind of person to leave a vulnerable boy like that wandering around in the woods. Not a chance.

_You should have known. You should have saved him._

If that certain someone had had the sense to stay away from the already broken boy, he might have calmed down enough to return instead of running again.

_A jinx. You're just a jinx._

If that certain someone hadn't been a monster, it might have done just that.

_Are you TRYING to get us killed?_

Of course, if that monster knew exactly who it was dealing with, there would be no chance that it would do that. It would have thought the boy the easiest target ever.

_This is your fault. You should have tried._

But he wasn't the same person he had been four days ago. He wasn't the same person at all.

_Even he's more helpful than you._

Twin blades sliced through the monster's body disintegrating it even as it was just beginning to sneak up behind the boy.

_You're gonna fight with a hammer? Are you that dumb?_

Not the same person at all.

_He might not wake up. Ever._

THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

He pinched the bridge of his nose to keep the grief down. The guilt could not be suppressed.

_Are you TRYING to get us killed?_

What's the use of your skills if you can't use them?

It's not his fault!

That tiny, delicate voice that barely ever entered his mind.

_Stop blaming him._

We're not miracle workers.

Stop it.

It's not his fault!

The boy allowed those few, wonderful sounds enter his mind. Just a little bit.

_He's just playing his strength._

We're just kids.

It's not his fault!

That voice. The one that barely spoke to him, except to call for breakfast or dinner. The one that never spoke about him like the others did.

_Don't say that._

It's not his fault!

Still, it was hard to feel his voice as well as all the other memories. They were forbidden. Pleasures he didn't deserve to have.

_Even he's more helpful than you._

The smile stopped tugging at his lips.

It was true. The boy was no help anymore. It came to the point where he needed to be replaced.

_Even he's more helpful than you._

THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

A roar. A different monster he couldn't fight. He couldn't hear it.

_THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!_

A different person. He could kill the monster within a minute.

_THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!_

He didn't need to run. He didn't have anywhere to run to.

_THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!_

A different person.

_THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!_

A different person.

_THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!_

He ran.

Again. Like he did four days ago. Like he did a year ago. Like he did seventeen months ago. Like he did ten times and counting.

Maybe one day he would stop running.

One day. As a different person.

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**Reviews make me happy!**


	2. Not Part Of The Plan

****I don't care if nobody likes this. I'm writing this story for my own selfish pleasure.****

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****Disclaimer ****

****Skye: Who wants to do the disclaimer?****

****Isabelle: Oh! Oh! Me!****

****Chloe: Go ahead.****

****Isabelle: Skye Phoenix Dove does not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters.****

****Chloe: Except us.****

****Skye: Yeah. And Rick Riordan is not responsible for anything his characters might do.****

****Isabelle: Skye sorta owns our Leo too.****

****Leo: What?****

****Isabelle: Because your personality changed so much thanks to her.****

****Leo: ...****

****Chloe: Just start reading already!****

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—Chapter 2: Not Part Of The Plan—

"C'mon, Chloe!"

Isabelle Tan raced down the sidewalk, dropping stationary left right and center. Of course, when it came to center, she would definitely trip on it and end up flat on the sidewalk, glasses falling off, probably scraping both elbows in the process, leaving her older sister to run up to her and abandon all her pens and pencils for the time being.

Still, it is a rare feeling to have someone so sympathetic at everything that happens.

"Again, Isabelle?"

The same goes for her.

And after picking up any bits of stationary she can find (no doubt some would be beyond recognition now) then Chloe would take Isabelle's backpack from her and take her down the shortcut to their apartment where she would busy herself with fixing whatever wounds she might have and peeling a bowl of grapes for her.

Or at least that's how the day is supposed to go.

Going past the park was _not_ part of the plan, but a road on the shortcut was cut off for construction and they had no choice.

A figure running out from the woods and collapsing on the grass several meters away was not part of the plan either.

And even if they see it doing that, running over to see what's happening was not part of the plan either. Only it is, because that's typical. But it isn't.

Because they're mortals and mortals aren't supposed to be in this mix.

And the second they saw the figure run out from the woods and collapse on the grass, and Isabelle ran over to see what's happening and Chloe followed her, then you could already tell that absolutely nothing is going to go according to the plan from there either.

Isabelle started with the basics. A light shaking and a, "Wake up. Wake up. Is he dead?"

Chloe huffed and put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes because that's the problem with her closest companion and little sister, she's only ten. And yes, Chloe is only twelve, but you can tell that sometimes Isabelle is genuinely clueless and sometimes she's just making the effort to be annoying.

But because Chloe is curious too, she didn't answer that. She took off the boy's cap and saw his curly black Mexican style hair and slightly tanned skin. Already she could tell he hadn't been eating much, and that's why he looks so thin now. Judging by his looks, maybe around fifteen years old?

Isabelle doesn't take in any of those. She's busy examining his ears. "Look, Chloe, they're pointy. Maybe he's an elf!"

But Chloe knew that's just another wild comment when she noticed the handles sticking out of the curved satchel on the boy's back. And when she took them out, very carefully mind you, she sees two mirrored blades of celestial bronze. Swords. Bronze swords, because she's never heard of celestial bronze.

Isabelle noticed them. "That's Greek." she said.

"How do you know?" asked Chloe.

"It's a greek design." she said solemnly. Chloe didn't say a word after that. She knows better than to argue with her intelligent little sister.

They stared at the swords for a little longer. Now this boy is more dangerous. He carries weapons. _Greek weapons._

But they came to a silent agreement to put the swords back and pretty much drag the boy back to their apartment where they could help him. He has scratches and open wounds everywhere and his clothes are burnt and tattered.

And they have no idea what a huge mess they have just gotten themselves into.

But even though anyone else who saw the boy coming out of the woods would have had the sense to stay away, they didn't because they're curious and have a knack for getting into trouble and can see how interesting he looks.

And that's the problem with the mist. It affects everyone's view because the real world is so messed up that it's unbelievable. They don't believe the real world, they can't see the real world. But Chloe and Isabelle are smart, and they can see the real world. They have far two much imagination for their own good and they believe in magic.

Hecate didn't think of that, though. So the mist doesn't affect these two particular mortals _quite_ so much. If it did, they might not have seen the boy and they might not have gotten themselves into such a huge mess. Which is _so_ not part of the plan.

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**Review make me happy!**


	3. Flashbacks

**I DON'T CARE IF I'M TECHNICALLY SUPPOSED TO BE STUDYING FOR MY EXAMS! I NEED TO WRITE THIS OR MY HEAD WILL EXPLODE!**

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****Disclaimer****

**Skye: Somebody needs to do the disclaimer.**

***silence***

**Skye: Oh, come on!**

**Nico: I'll do it.**** Skye Phoenix Dove does not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**Leo: Since when did you get here?**

**Chloe: Since Skye used her AAP to bring him here.**

**Leo: AAP?**

**Isabelle: Awesome Author Powers. Everyone on FanFiction has them.**

**Leo: ...**

**Nico: Have fun reading.**

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—Chapter 3: Flashbacks—  
_  
He ties the ropes together. The Athena Parthenos is secure._

_The ropes go slack. The statue tilts badly and is once again in danger of smashing on the ground. It creaks awkwardly then comes to an abrupt stop._

_He looks down. The boy with pale skin and black hair is holding it up with shadows. That one's name is Nico._

_"Hurry, Leo!" says Nico._

_Leo hurriedly ties the ropes back more securely. Nico has spent eight days without food, water or air. He can't hold back the heavy golden statue for long._

_Finally the ropes hold strong. He lets out a sigh of relief._

_Everything's okay. They made it. They got the Athena Parthenos._

_Then everything goes wrong. He hears a scream._

_But that scream is faint, and he can hear Piper yelling louder, "Leo! The floor is giving way! Get us up!"_

_It takes a moment for that to sink in._

_He jumps up. Gods, how can he be so stupid? Of course the floor would crumble. He has seen how unstable it is._

_He runs back towards the helm, wondering why Jason isn't coming up._

_First he helps Piper up. Frank drops off Hazel on the deck. Then Nico screams out loud._

_Not him. Please don't let anything have happened to him after all they went through to save him._

_He climbs down the ladder as fast as he can._

_It's not him._

Leo slashed wildly with one of his two new broadswords. Then he realizes they aren't there.

"He's awake!" a triumphant eleven-year-old voice announces.

Leo groaned and slowly sat up. His arm was bandaged up where he had broken his arm the day before. Someone had slipped a hospital-gown-thing over his tattered Camp Half-blood and rolled-up jeans. He finds himself with several band-aids all over his arms, legs, and neck.

"Hi." said another voice. Maybe around thirteen.

He was in a room painted with a boring plain yellow sort of color, lying on a queen-sized bed with hieroglyphics on the fabric.

There is a simple brown wooden round table out of the open bedroom door, and two girls are sitting there. One has on a green schoolgirl dress, the other has big glasses is wearing a yellow t-shirt and yellow shorts with amber butterflies sewn on it. The one dressed as a schoolgirl looks like she's eleven, the other looks around nine. Both girls have silky black hair, the older one's down to her waist, the younger one's just below her shoulder. They look something like a faint golden tan, but uncertain. Both girls have deep brown eyes, like him. They were so alike they could be sisters.

"Sorry about the gown, but we're in Rome and I was afraid you might catch hypothermia with your thin attire and, well, we didn't really want to take off your clothes." said the older one.

"Your swords are cool!" said the younger one, pushing up her glasses. "Are you Greek? Do you go to some special sword-training school?"

Leo's eyes widened at this.

The older one gave her assumed sister an amused smile. "Don't mind her. I'm Chloe and this is Isabelle. We're Chinese."

"Chinese?" asked Leo, thinking about Frank.

They both nodded. "You may have noticed that we have a slightly yellowy sort of skin color and look shorter than most people and possibly have a more mature accent,"said the younger one. "As I'm ten and Chloe is twelve. Those are the traits of Asians and before you say anything, yes. We are sisters."

Leo almost laughed. "You sound like Annabeth."

"Who's Annabeth?" asked Chloe.

Silence.

"Can you tell us who you are?" she asks again.

Slowly, since he is beginning to believe that they are just harmless mortals, he tells them the whole story...

_Annabeth sobs._

_They're gathered around the table. Nobody eats._

_"Percy." says Annabeth. She's still in shock._

_Leo feels uncomfortable. He knows it's his fault._

_"I'm sorry." whispers Nico. He was there. He tried to save them._

_Leo fiddles with his Archimedes sphere. He can't stand the tension._

_"What's that?" Piper asks. She's trying to distract them for a bit._

_"It's an Archimedes sphere." he answers absentmindedly. "I found it in that underground room with Hazel and Frank."_

_"And you activated it?" Annabeth sounds impressed and desperate for a distraction. Her face is still tear-stained from crying._

_He shrugged. "Nemesis gave me the access code."_

_That is the worst thing to say._

_Hazel suddenly shoots up and gasps. "You actually opened the fortune cookie? Don't you remember what Nemesis said about the horrible price?"_

_Annabeth fixes her with a hard look. "What horrible price?"_

_Hazel looks pale. "She said that if he needed help to open the fortune cookie, but it would come at a horrible price."_

_Piper swivels round to look at him. "A horrible price?! That must've been Percy!"_

_And he finds himself agreeing with her, because of course it's his fault. And it might just be charmspeak but it really is his fault anyway._

_Frank glares at him. "So it's your fault that we lost Percy?"_

_He struggles with his words. "Yes."_

_Annabeth slams her dagger down on the table an inch away from his hand. She glares at him through her tear-filled eyes._

_"I HATE YOU!" she yells before running out._

"It wasn't your fault." said Isabelle immediately.

"No." Chloe agreed. "You used the sphere to save two people. Percy still has a chance to survive."

Leo shrugged. Deep down, he felt that the way they treated him after that _was_ pretty unfair, but it was still hard to convince himself that he didn't deserve it.

_Leo looks into Jason's room as he goes past._

_"A concussion this deep?" says Nico. "That will mean it is quite a serious condition."_

_"But it's been four days!" protests Piper. "He should've gotten better by now! Surely the falling rocks didn't do him that much harm!"_

_"That's why I'm so worried." says Hazel. "If he doesn't recover quickly, he might not wake up. Ever."_

_"It would be worse if he got that injury for nothing." says Nico. "At least he managed to save Annabeth, even if he didn't save Percy."_

_"But he might die himself!" Piper cries._

_Leo catches his breath. First Percy, but nobody had bothered to show him how serious Jason's condition was._

_Piper sees him looking in and yells, half-sobbing._

_"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"_

"It's not." said Chloe, taking his hand. "You couldn't help what you did."

"If you didn't Hazel and Frank would've died anyway." said Isabelle.

Leo didn't say anything.

Chloe felt sorry for him. He was just as much of a hero as all of the others. It wasn't his fault that life forced him to make a choice where the losses were little better than the other.

Both of them hugged him, just because they felt he needed a hug after all he had been through.

"You don't have to be alone anymore." said Chloe. "You have us."

Leo was still a little surprised. "I don't even know you, really."

"I guess not." said Isabelle, pulling away and straightening her glasses. "But as you've got nowhere to go and we've just brought you home and cleaned your wounds, then you can't exactly call us strangers, right?"

Leo considered it. "Won't your parents freak out, though?"

"Our parents are on a business trip." said Chloe with a sigh. "They won't be back for a few months."

"So you're living here alone?" he asked them, worried.

Isabelle shrugged. "Yeah. We have each other for company, but it does get a little lonely." She gave him the big-round-puppy-dog-eyes.

"I'll attract monsters by staying here."

"Don't worry about that." said Chloe. "I mean, I'm sure you'll attract monsters anywhere either way, so there really doesn't make much of a difference to you if you'll fight them if they come?"

Leo considered them "You really want me to stay?"

Isabelle laughed. "Yes! If nothing else, it'll stop our summer from getting boring. And I want to learn more about demigods!"

Chloe gave him a warming smile.

"Alright." he decided. _It's not like I have anywhere to go._


End file.
